Samui crash kills pilot

Aviation officials have rushed to Koh Samui to begin investigating the crash of the Bangkok Airways plane which killed the pilot and injured 12 people, four of them seriously.

Those injured include the co-pilot, the two crew members and nine passengers.

The accident yesterday forced the closure of the one-runway airport and it will remain out of action until the Civil Aviation Department officials order the debris to be cleared.

Witnesses to the accident, including airport staff, have suggested a heavy rainstorm at the time was likely to have disrupted the landing of PG 226 from Krabi which had 68 passengers, two pilots and two crew members on board, the CAD said.

The accident occurred at 2.30pm. The French-manufactured 70-seat ATR 72-500 aircraft skidded off the runway as it was touching down in heavy rains and strong winds.

It crashed into an old air traffic control tower. Bangkok Airways president Puttipong Prasarttong-osoth said the pilot apparently died on impact.

Mr Puttipong and CAD director-general Kannika Khemawuthanont said civil aviation officials were dispatched to the resort island to investigate the accident along with Bangkok Airways staff.

As the airport was closed, the officials had to take a flight to Surat Thani and continue to the resort island by ferry.

Deputy chief of the department Wutthichai Singmanee said the investigators needed to examine the flight recorder first.

The front part of the plane hit the old air traffic control tower which had been transformed into a fire station. The front section was severely damaged.

Mr Puttipong said chief pilot Chartchai Pansuwan, 58, who died in the crash, was an experienced operator and had piloted ATR72-500 aircraft for 14 years. The aircraft was commissioned in 2001 and had flown more than 19,000 flights.

The aircraft, including accident coverage, was insured for US$250 million (8.5 billion baht) with Bangkok Insurance Co.

The four passengers seriously injured were two Britons, one Swiss and one Italian. Most of the injured suffered broken legs or leg wounds.

Mr Puttipong said most of the passengers were foreign tourists including nationals of Germany, the Netherlands, Israel, Spain and France.

Somchai Baimuang of the Meteorological Department yesterday said strong winds reaching 30 knots were recorded at the time of the crash.

An official at the airport who asked not to be named said there were heavy rains and strong winds before the landing. "During the landing there was a strong wind. What happened is similar to the crash of the One-Two-Go plane in Phuket," he said.

On Sept 16, 2007, a One-Two-Go plane crashed while landing in bad weather in Phuket, killing 88 people.

Health officials said nine people remained hospitalised including the co-pilot who was among the last to be evacuated from the aircraft.

Following the crash, calls for donations of blood Type B were made through television and radio stations.

The airport closure forced Thai Airways International to cancel two flights, TG 288 and TG 287, between Bangkok and Samui.

According to THAI, the cancellation affected 292 passengers and accommodation would be arranged for them.

Bangkok Airways has set up an emergency call centre number - 02 265 8777.

Samui airport currently handles 16 flights a day. That figures increases to 24 during the high season.